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tv   Hardball With Chris Matthews  MSNBC  September 27, 2012 2:00pm-3:00pm PDT

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this guy doesn't know exactly where he's going or even on how to drive this car. and the big question is, why is he having such a tough time? why does he seem, dare we say it, confused? could it be because he doesn't know where he's trying to take us? because he doesn't know where he wants to go? as david axelrod said, campaigns are like an mri for the soul, whoever you are, eventually people find out. joining me now are the two men who wrote the book that resulted in a sweep of four emmys this week, game change authors john heilemann of new york magazine and mark halperin of "time." gentlemen, thank you for joining us. right now never has mitt romney's ability to shape shift more on display than yesterday. it involved health care reform. the issue he can't decide whether to run from or embrace, so he did both in the same day. in an interview with nbc's ron allen, romney said his health care plan up in massachusetts, the one that the obama plan is modeled after, shows his compassion. let's listen. >> throughout this campaign as
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well we've talked about my record in massachusetts. don't forget, i got everybody in my state insured, 100% of the kids in our state have health insurance. i don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record. >> well, shortly after that, very shortly, a matter of two hours or so, romney spoke before a toledo, ohio, crowd to denounce obama's affordable care act which is based on his massachusetts plan. let's listen. >> i will repeal obama care and replace it with real health care reform. obama care is really exhibit number one of the president's political philosophy, and that is that government knows better than people how to run their lives. >> well, there you have it. i think -- i don't know what you can say. he's talking to ron allen, a straight news reporter. this is the third episode here in a matter of hours. at a univision 230er rum last week romney admitted he'd take
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credit for obama care except during the primaries. >> i have experience in health care reform. now and then the president says i'm the grandfather of obama care. i don't think he meant that as a compliment, but i'll take it. this was during my primary. we thought it might not be helpful. >> well, there you have it, mark, and then john. speaking to a straight news report are for nbc, ron allen, he says something that's support at this of what he did in massachusetts. then before a partisan crowd he takes it back and lashes out at obama care. and then before a group he assumes to be a bit more liberal, he goes back in favor of it again saying, i take that not as a compliment but i'll accept it anyway. and there you go, what is this guy? he's like a bobble head. >> well, i've not been as dubious about the notion of you could be for a certain type of policy at the state level but not think it's a good idea for washington to do it, but when you extend the rhetoric to the morality of covering all children and the morality of universal health care, then i
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think it's a harder case to make, and, you know, governor romney is getting a lot of criticism in the press, some even on this channel. i separate the two types of criticism. the kind you're talking about comes not just from journalists or pundits but almost any republican we know who is not on mitt romney's payroll will tell you that that is just not the kind of inconsistency that he can afford at this point given the deficits he faces. >> your thoughts, john. >> well, look, chris, i just think he's in an untenable position he and he has been all along. the bottom line on mitt romney is he's proud of his massachusetts health care law. there's part of him that wants to defend it, there's part of him that's always wanted to defend it, and he found himself running in a republican primary where he couldn't defend it forth rightly as i think what his heart would have wanted to do. so he twisted himentz up in a lot of knots. i think there's some theoretical way in which you could make a federalist argument but he hasn't made that argument consistently either. he should have stood up and said
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the individual mandate is a conservative policy. it was invented at the heritage foundation and embraced by conservatives as recently as a decade ago. co-have made the argument for pla health care and said that's what the conservative position was. he didn't have the guts to do that. he's ended up in this bizarre position where he's had to pirouette on this crazy tightrope where he says my law is great but the federal law which the core element of which is the individual mandate is bad. it's not intellectually tenable and it's politically ridiculous. >> here he is doing it again on the tax issue. he pushed the idea that the president raised tacks. here he tries to make the point using hi interpretation of the supreme court ruling on obama care. >> by the way, the president has now raised taxes on the middle class as so determined by the supreme court. >> and then this week romney mangles his message by saying obama didn't raise taxes in his first term but might in his second term. >> he's got one new idea. i admit he has one thing he did not do in his first four years
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he said he's going to do in the next four years which is raise taxes. >> which is it, mark? did he or didn't he or is he about to and hasn't yet? >> i will probably have a more charitable interpretation. >> your interpretation is the one we want. >> my sense is he was talking about raising marginal tax rates rather than raising any taxes. >> that's charitable, you're right. >> i will say a version of what i said before. he's not at the point where he can afford either to create distractions through loose rhetoric or to have a muddled message that doesn't give people a sense of where his heart is, as you said at the beginning. i'm just amazed that at this stage he's been a candidate for five years now that he's still just being that sloppy in a way that distracts from trying to drive a male message that could help him make up the gaps he has now. >> jack kennedy once dick nixon, i feel sorry for the guy because
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he doesn't know which dick nixon to be on any particular day. he wants the support of the tea party crowd. he needs them, john and mark, but he would never be a tea party person. he wouldn't show up at a yahoo kind of politics we don't like government. he's not been a life long foreign policy hawk, but he wants the support of the ne-yo con community out there. he wants people who are hawkish. he's not a member of the religion right. he doesn't run around liberty university or hang around with jerry falwell but he wants their support. he's not really a ryan republican identify log conviction politician but he put him on the ticket. isn't that the fundamental problem with the guy? he wants to date these people through the election. he wants their support, but he doesn't want to be one of them. he doesn't want to marry them. is that true? >> yes. look, chris, i think he's a person who is fundamentally ill suited to being the republican nominee given what the republican party currently is. and you could say that on a bunch of different levels. it's an evangelical party and
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he's a mormon. it's a southern and western -- southern around western party, he's northeasterner. it's a populist party. he's more or less an establishment tearian. he wanted to say barack obama has failed as an economic steward and i'm a business guy and so i know how to create jobs. and as soon as that fell away, as soon as people started to think that the economy was doing better, as soon as people started to think that this was about policies for the future and not just about a referendum on the past, he's found himself adrift in terms of what the message is he wants to hue to and he does feel as though this is a base election and he needs to stir up the republican base, and he doesn't have the kind of natural connection to that base that some of his -- many other people in the party, some of the people he ran against and some of whom he didn't run against, have. >> is that true, mark, that the only requirement to run for the republican -- to be the republican nominee this year looked like several months back just not be obama, just be a republican, and it's gotten tougher because somehow, maybe
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because of the clinton speech in charlotte or what economic numbers slightly changing perhaps, you have to make a bigger case than i'm just not obama. >> well, i think that the case which they did at the republican convention in what turned out to be a stray remark, was to think what makes you think the next four years will be better for you than the first four years of an obama presidency? i think that the economy -- you can look at some macrostatistics and say things are better in some ways, but i think there are still people who have a lot of doubt about what's going to happen next. talk to anybody who is doing focus groups now and ask people in groups, what does the president plan to do in another four years? people don't know. and so mitt romney still has an opportunity, i think, to not only say -- >> you can say the same about mitt romney. >> you could, you could, but the president has got a record of four years that a lot of americans aren't happy with. he's not coming close to driving that message. he's still doing one event a day. still more likely to do a bad television interview that says
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nothing or creates a negative story or has some old video pop out. this is not left wing pundits or reporters who don't like mitt romney. this is what every republican i talk to is saying, scratching their head saying how can he continue to waste another day? i'm looking at my calendar every day, when is he going to win a single news cycle? >> i would argue more positive for obama and say he's doubled the stock market, he's taken the unemployment rate from double digits down to eight. if he does that again, he'll take it down to six. if you want to say i'll take it down two or three points further, just stay on that continu continuum. let's take a look at this. a new obama campaign ad just put out a powerful ad airing in swing states that uses romney's own words against him. let's listen to this. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. who are dependent upon government, who believe that they're victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it
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and they will vote for this president no matter what. and so my job is not to worry about those people. i will never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> what do you think of that ad, guys? you first, mark. >> you know, when the video first came out of governor romney talking, i wasn't sure if it would have a long shelf life, but it has a lot of resonance with voters, certainly has a lot of resonance with the chattering class, and that ad is subtle, but it draws -- they clearly think it's going to draw on the feelings that a lot of voters have and an awareness that a lot of voters have and particularly on a day when governor romney is trying to drive the message about veterans and support for the military. to feature some people from the military in that spot, this is going to be a thing they come back to again and again and i'll say i don't think governor romney has dealt with it effectively. you can't go out and assert that you care about people. you've got to do something i think that shows people in an emotional and concrete and resonant way and he's not solved
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that yet amongst the problems he still has to solve. >> yeah. your thoughts, john? what i like about it is it shows poverty and working poor, the working poor phenomenon in this country where you work very hard but don't make enough to live above the poverty level, is not an inner city situation alone. it creates a larger notion of another america out there that's much more diverse and much more realistic, i think. your thoughts, john. >> chris, i agree with that. i will also say there's nothing more powerful than a negative ad that uses nothing but the words from the person who -- out of the mouth of the person who the ad is attacking. you know, you think about the way that tina fey set up sarah palin on niv four years ago by literally saying the things that she said in an interview with katie couric. those were her words. you didn't have to write a script. in this same case the 47% thing i think is devastating. and mark talked about the people -- we talk to people all the time who are doing focus groups on the republican side and democratic side. this is cutting with voters. voters think there's something that's toxic here and there's a reason why this is the third ad
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the obama campaign has put up on this 47% thing. they're putting up those ads because they're working and this ad in particular i think because it's in mitt romney's von voice is just a sign of exactly how much trouble that videotape continues to cause him in places where it matters. >> and, john and mark, i also think it counts when he makes references, not the biggest thing in the world but telling when he says we're not going to let people just die in their apartments, people that don't have health insurance. we're going to pick them up and get them to the hospital. the idea that everybody who is poor lives in some urban apartment when there's people all across the area who aren't covered by health insurance today even though they're working 40 hours a week. these are little things that just inject a certain narrow view of what the problem is that isn't really complete at all. thank you mark and john. coming up, how do you spot a campaign in trouble? when you hear reporters -- actually supporters say it's still early or you should see our internal polling. well, you can bet in those cases the candidate is probably headed for defeat. right now the gop is trotting
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out the granddaddy of all excuses, the polls are wrong. all of them. we're going to talk about the self-dell luths of republicans popping up right now. also breaking up is hard to do. the republican party broke up with missouri's todd akin after his legitimate rape comments, but still within striking distance of claire mccaskill. the gop may have decided it's better to live with the author of legitimate rape than to have the democrats retain control of the senate. and which republican would democrats most like to pick off in november? here are a few. michele bachmann, joe walsh, allen west. with polls moving their way, democrats are daring to dream of delivering them from evil. finally, let me finish tonight with my favorite teachers wife and how much she wants to vote and how the new pennsylvania voter photo law is stopping her from voting. this is "hardball," the place for politics. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it?
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the presidential race is being fought in a handful of states. check the top advertising markets where the campaigns are spending the most dollars on tv ads. at number five, starting from the bottom, right here in washington, d.c., which reaches the critical northern suburbs of virginia. number four is tampa, florida, and st. pete. number three, cleveland. number two is orlando, also in florida. the top market this week for ads in the presidential campaign, madison, wisconsin, one of the great places in the 1960s to be in. we'll be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing a stunning work of technology. introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first-ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection.
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back to "hardball." what do you do when your candidate is trailing in the polls? well, you blame the pollsters. over the past several days right wing radio and television pundits have gone wild with the new republican talking thought, the polls are wrong. pay no attention to what you're seeing or what you're hearing, that obama is up. according to some on fox and elsewhere, the pollsters are all in the president aes back pocket
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and they can't be trusted, including fox's polls apparently. here is dick mars staggering even sean hannity on fox news this week. >> as he's at the moment in a very strong position. i believe if the election were held today, romney would win by four or five points. i believe he would carry florida, ohio, virginia. i believe he would carry nevada. i believe he would carry pennsylvania. >> oh, come on. >> pennsylvania, and i believe he would be competitive in michigan. people need to understand that the polling this year is the worst it's ever been because this is the first election where if i tell you who is going to vote, i can tell you how they're going to vote. the models these folks are using are vazy. they assume a democratic edge of six or seven points. >> we're all wrong in in business, we make mistakes. he's the only guy i know who knows he's wrong when he says this stuff, dick morris. in the eyes of republicans, it's that the polls are conspiring to
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bring him down. michael, special correspondent for "newsweek" and ron reagan is oon msnbc political analyst and author of "my father at 100." ron, you have to start with you. you're a sympathetic voice when it comes to common sense, and why would anybody ever, ever, ever no mat mother pays them ever listen to what dick morris has to say about anything, especially when he says all the polls, including fox's own polls, are not to be trusted because he doesn't like the numbers, he doesn't like what they're saying this week. >> it's true that you sometimes imagine that back in the republican green room there's this giant crack pipe that they're all hitting on constantly, hitting it hard, but, you know, listen -- >> it's time to say don't bogart that, morris, because i think he's been on that pipe longer than most. just a thought. >> he bought the pipe i think and brought it into the room. but let's not give them too much credit here. i mean, yes, it's true -- >> i'm not --
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>> -- the rank and file -- no, no. the rank and file actually believes some of this nonsense. they believe that evolution didn't happen, global warm something a hoax obama is a kenyan, but people like dick morris and sean hannity, they know better than that, and there's a method to their madness. they're not delusional, they're dishonest. they're not crazy, they're craven. >> i hate to say it, ron, but i believe that sean hannity is as smart as me or anybody else but he says stuff on the air that throws red meat out for that audience to eat up. he can't be believing this stuff. >> very briefly, what they're trying to do here and accomplish here is to say in advance if president obama wins this election, it's because the pollsters suppressed the republican vote, it's, therefore, an illegitimate election, he's not really president. they're setting the table for that. >> okay. let me go to mike tomaski. you're nonpartisan. i don't know what your politics
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are. it seems to me they could say something else. they could say this week we're behind two or three, within the margin of error but these dae bates are going to be important. there's a lot of different ways to interpret these numbers than to deny them. >> but denial is what they do, and work up their base is what they do, chris. that's how -- they define their movement in large part by their enemies. >> so the couple on the cage here? >> they are but i'm not entirely sure that hannity doesn't believe some of this stuff himself. you know -- >> you have a low estimate of his iq. i have a higher estimate. your thoughts, but go ahead. >> look, pollsters aren't going to stack the deck on who is -- what they're complaining about is the sampling, how many democrats are in this poll and how many republicans are in this poll and it is true, they have one little smidgeon of a point. it is true a lot of these polls have been showing more democrats than republicans, but this is the misunderstanding or the -- >> more democrats than republicans exist or what? >> pollsters ask people to take their poll -- let me back up --
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>> but isn't the latest polling showing there is lower republican id. in the last six months? there's a reduction in the number of people who say i'm a republican? >> that's what it's showing. these conservatives are trying to say it's intentional, a setup by "the new york times" and all these other pollsters, but that's nonsense. >> where is this meeting supposed to happen where all the pollsters get together? don't they compete with each other to prove they're right? this is something, ron, that's very important. poll something like rating services, like we are all goved here by. they get paid to be right. they get paid by sponsors at local tv affiliates like abc in boston or whatever, any local station down here, right? wrc down here, they pay pollsters to be right. why would you have pollsters who were being paid by somebody to be wrong? they have clients. >> it's a mystery, but we do know that some polling outfits tend to favor republicans and some tend to favor democrats. rasmussen, for instance, which is a polling outfit that typi l
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typically has romney with higher numbers than say ppp or some of the others -- >> that's why we call it the outlier. >> that's right. but that's the one the republicans cite all the time. they say the rasmussen poll has us dead even and the other half a dozen or dozen polls, they don't count. >> we're going underwater. now to your point, rush limbaugh warned this week that pollsters are conspiring -- i can't do the voice. conspireing to suppress republican voters. let's hear his indignation. here is the underwater wall russ himself, rush limbaugh. >> they are designed to do exactly what i have warned you to be vigilant about, and that is to depress you and suppress your vote. these two polls today are designed to convince everybody that election is over. >> there could be a lot of reasons for this, voter suppression, voter depression set up the possibility of al gations of voter fraud.
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>> speaking of depression, where did you get that shirt? it looks like the devil's idea of an nfl ref's uniform. mike tomaskey, why is he doing this. the pollsters are getting you, but i'm for you. >> it's all about the enemies. it starts with the liberal media. and now it extend to the pollste pollsters. the pollsters are supposedly rigging these things. in fact, what the voter i.d. in those polls is showing, it's showing that the republican party, that fewer and fewer people who are being called by these polls want to call themselves -- >> what happened there in six months to make them not do that? what's real? i think it's the republican house -- >> a bad candidate, the republican house, a party that's gone way off into the right, into la la land, and a bad convention versus a good
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democratic convention and this video. >> middle of the road and slightly conservative people i grew up with in the suburbs around philadelphia and chicago and new york, they have seen that party flipping over to the crazy side. thank you, michael, and i think the president has been good at positioning himself much closer to the center than they'd like, the other party. ron reagan, you're great. i love your sense of humor. you're great. >> thanks. >> that's why i said it, people, you're great. in your case it's true. up next, george w. bush turns up in an embarrassing place for mitt romney. wait until you catch this. find out where he's speaking like right before the election day, george w., just to bring the house down. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ horse neighs ]
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take responsibility for their lives, tax returns, investments in the cayman islands. well, we're all seeing those come back from all sides. first, to the late night scene and some revamped campaign ads for romney. here is david letterman on the release of romney's tax returns. >> mitt romney released his 2011 tax returns, and that's not all. take a look. >> last week republican presidential candidate mitt romney released his 2011 income taxes and after numerous requests mitt has also decided to release his tax forms from the last 20 years. >> there you go. >> i'm mitch romney, and i approve this message. >> jimmy kim 'em took on romney's attempt to convince voters he can empathize with struggling americans in the aftermath of those comments on the 47% of americans. he said don't even take care for their lives. >> too many americans are struggling to find work in today's economy. too many of those who are
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working are living paycheck to paycheck. more americans are living in poverty than when president obama took off, and 15 million more are on food stamps. my plan will create 12 million new jobs over the next four years. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good paying job. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message. >> lobster. anyway, now shifting to jobs. how did president obama turn a slip of the tongue regarding his jobs plan into a knock at his opponent? well, here he is in ohio yesterday. >> let me repeat the plan that i have put forward, practical, specific five-point plan to grow our middle class, create strong jobs. first thing is i want to see us export more jobs -- export more products. excuse me.
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i was channeling my opponent there for a second. >> well, that was a quick save. anyway, the obama campaign has continually argued that bain capital, which romney ran as ceo, invested in companies that moved jobs overseas. finally, romney's offshore investments in places like the cayman islands and his campaign's tendency to sweep the presidency of george w. bush under the rug. our last republican president was note i can't believe aabsent from the republican vengs and mentions of his stint in office has been absent. talk about a perfect storm. where will "w" be five days before the election. you won't believe this, headlining an alternative investment event in the cayman islands along with sir rich branson. the cayman alternative investment summit is a hub for business people and investors to discuss and promote offshore investments, a place where democrats will point out romney a right at home.
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bush is the keynote speaker on the event's first night, november 1st. what a favor "w" is doing romney here. up next, the republican party bailed on missouri's todd akin after his elect mat rape comments. with akin hanging tough against claire mccaskill, the republican may be willing to life with akin if it helps them win control of the senate. apparently that's what's going on. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪
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i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap. the dow gained 72 points, the s&p rises 14, and the nasdaq adds 43 points. google shares continue their march upward hitting another all-time high. one firm raised its price target on the stock to $860 a share.
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as for the economy, jobless claims fell by 26,000 to 359,000, the lowest level in two months. however, orders for long-lasting durable goods plummeted 13.2%, the most in 3 1/2 years. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." remember last month after todd akin made this comment? >> it seems to me, first of all, from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> they tried to shut him down. republicans from mitt romney and paul ryan to sarah palin, sean
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hannity, and rush limbaugh all urged akin to get out of the race after he said that. karl rove's american crossroads super pac pulled their money from him and while talking to donors, rove made this, his think being what akin was doing to the party crystal clear. he said we should sink todd akin. if he's found mysteriously murdered don't look for my whereabouts. that's karl. the national republican senate committee also pulled funds from akin's race. its chairman, john corn of texas, said last weekd just last week, he had a simple answer on their involvement with akin going forward. he told "the hill" newspaper, quote, we're done. well, that was then, this is now. the deadline for akin to remove himself from the ballot has passed, and slowly republicans are rejoining the akin bandwagon, if you can call it that. the national republican senate committee, for example, said yesterday, as with every republican senate candidate, we hope todd akin wins in november, and we will continue to monitor his race as low asly in the days
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ahead. so have republicans decided akin isn't as bad as they once thought? bob shrum is a democratic strategist, john furry is a republican strategist. gentlemen, i have to give a little bit of help there to fury because this may be his hardest test yet. but let's go to you, shrum, because i like the way you punch. aiken ain't any better now, is he, than he was right after he said that, politically speaking. your thoughts. >> and he's done more. the republicans were in the midair phase of this flip-flop to say they were going to reconsider when he criticized and attacked claire mckag kill for nom being ladylike. they're reconsidering for several reasons. romney is fading. their prospects of ceiliree con the senate are fading. and, three, they were getting a lot of pressure from the tea party folks, from people like jim demint, from newt gingrich, rick santorum, as if those guys hadn't done enough for the republican party already this year by forcing romney way to the right. but this is a really hard
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decision politically and practically for republicans to make. first, it's going to cost a lot of money if they go back in. they canceled all the air time. to buy the spots now would cost five or six times more than the money that they already had there in the first place. secondly, it's not politically good for the republican party or for mitt romney or for their senate and house candidates to be associated in any way with this guy. they already have a huge gender gap. look, he didn't drop out. the voters are going to drop him in november and maybe fury will tell me he disseptembers from this, and i'm sure he does, but privately a lot of republicans will say this guy can't win. >> the news here today, you referred to how he referred to this -- this is todd akin -- how he referred to his democratic opponent, the incumbent senator claire mccaskill. let's look at this, what he said today and why it may be a problem for him. he said, quote, she, and that
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was his opponent, was very aggressive at the debate this past week, which was quite different than it was when she ran against jim talent. she had a confidence and was much more ladylike back then. but in the debate on friday she came out swinging. i think that's because she feelings threatened. i don't know. sometimes i wonder whether we're too tough, but, you know, this idea that women have to hit their golf ball from the ladies tee politically, that somehow they have to be ladylike in a tough brawl of a campaign, do you think that's still a nice way to talk, or appropriate way to talk to your opponent politically if they're a female that they have to be ladylike? does anybody say you have to be a gentleman in politics these days? i'm just asking, john fury. is this okay? go ahead. >> it would be nice if we were all gentlemen and if they were ladies and all the whole nine yards, but ladies punch just as hard as men in politics. >> shouldn't they? >> of course they should. that's the game. at the end of the day, the reason we're talking about this race is claire mccaskill is still in a pretty weak position.
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i would give her the edge at winning but i think akin has a very good shot at winning otherwise we wouldn't care this much. to defend the nrsc, they want to put in the best candidate they could, and it was not akin at the time. they wished they would have got him out thereof and had someone else in, but now they've got him, they've got to stick with him, and he still has a relatively decent shot of winning because claire mccaskill is still very weak. >> well, let's check on that. let's take a look at the ad they put together. this is an ad that the american bridge, the democratic group, has put out against him. i think it displays the fact this guy's problems go well beyond saying women are not to be trusted on charges of rape and things like that. this goes over the whole issues of this guy's vulnerability. i want bob to jump on it and then you respond. let's listen to this ad. >> social security through the years for many, many people has been a terrible investment. it's really a tax is all it is. social security is a tax. >> are you saying for younger people there will be some privatization of it or not? >> well, if it were up to me,
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yes, i think that that's a good idea. this bill is called the hate crimes bill. this bill increases hatred in america. if a foreign power had done to america what the department of education had done, it would be considered an act of war. the minimum wage can be destructive 37. >> do you know what the minimum wage is? my guess is it's somewhere in the six or seven. >> if you wanted to destroy jobs what would you do? just playing like you are the devil, and we have one pretty close to that. and yet we have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists. i don't really believe in the whole theory of global warming. >> well, quite an array to pick from. abortionists are terrorists. social security should be privatized. hate crimes lead to hate. it's a long list to suggest that this guy is not what i would call a mainstream conservative republican. >> for once i want to second what feehery said. they wanted a different candidate. they supported a different senate candidate. after he made the comments about
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legitimate rape, a lot of people, as you said, romney, ryan, cornyn, the whole republican establishment said we don't want to support this guy, he should drop out. he can drop out up until september 25th. september 259 passed, things have not been going well for the gop, and so you have some people saying we have to double down and we have to help this guy. look, does he have some chance to win? yeah, i think it's very small. i think in the end when people see all of this stuff and it's not just the rape stuff but they're going to sow all of this stuff and how extreme he is, he's going to have a very, very hard time. i also think, by the way, nobody is talking about this, the polls on the presidential race have narrowed substantially in missouri. i think that's todd akin's gift to the romney campaign. >> quickly, john, how do you justify calling abortion an act of terrorism where it's the woman normally who makes the call to get the procedure done? i mean, whatever you think,
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we'll argue about this the rest of our lives, but to call it terrorism, how do you justify it? >> i'm pro-life, so i believe -- >> but do you call it terrorism if -- >> i don't use those terms but i'm pro-life. getting back to todd akin, you know, he's still got a shot. i think that claire mccaskill is a weak candidate. he's not our best candidate. i wish we had a better candidate but we don't. a lot of these kv groups will support todd akin and missouri is still a conservative state, and i do think he's got a 49% to 49.5% chance of winning this. >> do you think he should be in the u.s. senate. >> for the people of missouri to decide. >> no, do you think he should be in the u.s. senate? >> i would have voted for someone else in a primary. >> sarah steelman i guess, probably. nice dodge by the way. john feehery dodges the ball. and he should. bob shrum. which tea party candidate would democrats most like to beat, michelle bachmann, joe
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walsh, allen west? they have new reasons to be hopeful. the democrats might knock a couple of them off. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ask me what it's like when my tempur-pedic moves. [ male announcer ] why not talk to someone who owns an adjustable version of the most highly recommended bed in america? ask me about my tempur advanced ergo. goes up. goes up. ask me what it's like to get a massage anytime you want. goes down. goes down. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied than owners of any traditional mattress brand. ergonomics. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america. [ female announcer ] for more information
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or to find a retailer near you, visit tempurpedic.com. we've got two new polls in that voter i.d. law in pennsylvania. the people in the keystone state say they like it, a majority do. 62% of pennsylvanians support the law. 35% oppose it. same story in a new franklin and marshall poll. 59% say they support it, 39% against it.
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but the law may be blocked as taking effect as a state judge determines who it could disinen from chis legitimate voters, a decision that may be made by tuesday of next week. we'll be right back. [ ow ner ] i need to expand to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for ten years running.
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♪ something to me ♪ that nobody else could do we're back. most of the attention this campaign, it seems, is focused on the presidency but democrats are beginninging to dream, what if, what if they can kick off some of the tea party men and women since the tea party revolution of 2010? michele bachmann, joe walsh, steve king, allen west. democrats think, wouldn't it be
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lovely? nia-malika henderson, a reporter for "the washington post," stand by. we created here on handball, we're going to show you how we created here i want you to look at this and tell me how you're going to look at this person and defeat her. >> how many people in the congress of the united states are anti-american? you've already suspected barack obama. is he alone or are there others? how many do you suspect as being unamerican? >> what i would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose. i wish she would. i wish the american media would take a great look at the view of the people in congress and find out if they are pro america or anti-america. i think people would love to see an expo say like that. >> mr. graves, i hate to say that i have not conducted a joe mccarthy probe here of the loyalty of the democratic members of congress.
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what do you make of having an owe point nent like that? >> pris, it all started on your channel and on your show. she keeps going. she's a gift that keeps going. she's actually come after me. she likes to tread on fear and separation. that's her whole mantra. and i think it's getting old. >> let's take a look at mr. joe walsh in illinois and find out how he's going after tammy duckworth. >> i understand something about john mccain. his political advisers day after day had to take him and almost throw against the wall and hit him against the head and say, senator, you have to let people know you serve. you have to talk about what you did. he didn't want to do it. wouldn't do it. now i'm running against a woman who, my god, that's all she
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talks about. our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it's the last thing in the world that they talk about. >> you know, i don't even get it. i've never seen such bad taste in my life. this woman lost her legs in combat, nia, and to mock her coming up in the campaign, i don't know what the new rules are. >> that's right. this is one of the reasons he's so behind in polls and republicans are conceding that he will probably lose this race. he has gotten a bit of a lifeline thrown to him by the congressional committee. they put about $450,000 into this race and he'll be able to run some ads until election day. duckworth has ads out now and the fact that she'll go to washington and fight for her constituents there in that district. but you're right, there are a lot of these below the belt comments and i think tea party folks have made that are now coming back to bite them. i think they've done well for themselves in terms of filling their campaign coffires.
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michele bachmann has about $10 million in the bank. now they are having to run against those very words. >> back to you, jim. what happened to walter mondale and reasonable people how did they get so far right to think that michele bachmann is the voice of sanity? >> i think she treds on her base, gets a lot of advertising out there. the people of minnesota understand that she's not representing them and that she does not speak the truth. it's coming around to roost. she's going to lose this election because she can't come up with anything that makes any sense to the people. she doesn't resonate with the folks. it's getting old. she ran for president. she did 15 debates. she wanted to do one with me after the election. she's afraid of the truth, it's running, and i think it's catching up with her, chris. >> jim graves running against
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michele bachmann. nia-malika henderson, thank you. you're watching "hardball," a place for politics. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles
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. let me finish tonight with the real life consequence of this bad photo law in pennsylvania. my high school english teacher has been caring for his wife
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these receyear. she can no longer drive a car and therefore has no driver's license and unable to travel has no passport but she is still alert and she keeps up with the news. he holds the newspapers up for her to read and she's very eager to vote this year and therein lies this new problem, the pennsylvania law pushed through the republicans requiring them to get an absentee ballot which you need to produce a government-issued i.d. he would have to take his wife to the penn-d.o.t. headquarters to get the i.d. that the new law requires. we have no idea if this is the kind of person that they were trying to keep out from voting but we know the predick ka meant it made for her and the legislature to deliver the commonwealth electoral votes to
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romney. i would think this is a good idea why justice requires fast action from the courts to keep the law from taking effect barely a month from now. he's the greatest teacher i ever had, anyone ever had. if he's as good of a caregiver as he was as a teacher, god is in his heaven and all right in the world. this law needs to be changed now so his wife can cast her vote like every other registered pennsylvania voter. that's "hardball" for now. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, oops, he did it again. there's a new secret mitt romney video that surfaced today. this one comes from his years running bain capital and mr. romney's language in the video, once again, just leaves you scratching your head. the same man who said corporations are